Pet Care (Or How to Say I Love You Without Saying It)
by morphepool129
Summary: The ABC's of Jake Hunter's dog, Ziggura and her many faces.
1. Arzuros

**Saved by the Bear (Arzuros)**

For any living creature, losing one's bearings was an experience best left in thought.

There are many measures formulated by great and resourceful souls throughout history to keep from going astray, especially in the untamed wilderness, which is the worst place to be vulnerable and unarmed.

Supplies, for one thing, are an essential part of any outdoor excursion through Mother Nature's arms. A pocket knife to carve wood or skin a beast, a tent to shelter oneself from the elements, a lighter to make flame. These are just but a few of the many stipulations the camper must take caution to enshrine in his mind.

Unfortunately, for the trio in the middle of nowhere, such prerequisites for what could have been a momentous camping trip, especially for the twins of scarlet and silver, were now haphazardly hopping across a downstream current within a bright orange boat.

As it was lost around a bend, Steve Rogers assured the twins that not all was lost, and that they could last a few days out here with only the provisions on their shoulders.

But first things first. Find a good camping spot. And that's an adventure all itself.

Much to their dwindling luck, they pitch up in the center of a clearing circled by trees far taller than Wanda and Pietro Maximoff have ever seen back in their home of Sokovia. It brought back memories of when they would sometimes hide out in the forest to chase and hunt animals.

They weren't particular about any detail of the site, but Pietro was grumbling the whole way about the "torture" would have been eased had the boat been more secure. Then of course, his sister had to remind him it had slipped on his watch.

When Steve told them that they would have the opportunity to go fishing tomorrow, Pietro quieted a little, and soon, he was out like a light as Steve and Wanda talked the rest of the night away before they too, decided to turn in.

But come morning, the stream seems to be quite reluctant in sharing its blessings with the trio. Pietro came back to the camp with a nearly empty stomach and a stormy mood. Wanda meanwhile, tried not to show her disappointment in the proceedings of the trip. The last thing she needs is a super soldier apologizing profusely on the way back to civilization.

However, Wanda's habit of being an optimist pays off as they are greeted by a most welcome sight.

Somehow, the campsite was a lot tidier than when they had left it, with any evidence of litter gone into what may have well been thin air. The fire burned with passionate purpose, and the bags were arranged in a way that made the aesthetics a little easy on the eyes.

The mysterious housekeeper also left behind a present. About two dozen and two of the biggest fish Wanda and Pietro have ever seen were arranged on a wet cloth near the fire in three neat rows of eight next to a pile of non-toxic berries that were situated in turn to the left of stacks of various medicinal herbs in case of unwelcome ailments. All opposite one very healthy (not to mention dead) buck and a jar that once held a batch of cookies brought to by the combined efforts of Steve and Clint, but now contained an abundant serving of pure honey.

To Pietro, it was a tear-jerking moment as he shouted out praises to kingdom come.

To Steve, it was a moment to act suspicious, then to commence the skinning of the deer once he realizes no harm will come to them.

To Wanda, it was a time to look around and thank what she very well suspected was a bear standing on a low hill.

She'd never seen one before, but her instinct told her that bears didn't have fur that was a mossy, greenish-blue, nor did they have blue backs evolved to look like reptile shells or their wrists ossified into scaly gauntlets.

She turned at the voice of her brother as he urged her to help with the fish. When she looked again, the Honey Hunter was gone.


	2. Barioth and Barroth

**Snowball Effect (Barroth and Barioth)**

"I'm sorry." Bruce said sadly as he looked at the picture. "I can't. I'm not. I'm not an Avenger."

The massive, red-faced feline nudged him, careful to distance the small human frame from those tusks.

If only he wasn't inclined to answer every chance to help, Bruce wouldn't be in this situation. How does a Doberman even end up in the Gobi anyways? It took a transformation into Sand Barioth to realize he'd been played.

One old woman had noticed how the wyvern continued following the doctor throughout his travels, and she had told him about how animals are the best judges of character.

" _Perhaps you should listen to what she wants. You could end up liking the surprise_." Those were her last words before the medicine finally gave way to death.

The day before Christmas Eve, Bruce found himself en route to Manhattan.

* * *

After a week of having to deal with all of the bull the public is throwing the Avengers' way, Tony decides to treat the group to a most well-deserved day at the spa.

The only problem was, some terrorist assault decided that the spa the billionaire had in mind was the best place to plant a bomb.

So yet another vacation lost to fire and the need for a good deed.

What they didn't count on however, was that best way to cool down was to get cold.

It all began the coming winter in Central Park, when Tony decided that since Christmas was just around the corner, that a miracle worthy of Santa himself occurred.

Originally, the team thought Ziggura had just been digging a simple harmless hole in the snow. It wasn't until a familiar sound of growing muscle happened did they notice the Doberman-now a Jade Barroth-was now rolling around in the snow. And only when a certain someone appeared did the Brute Wyvern cease sliding around in the white blanket of frost.

Natasha couldn't believe her eyes. She had expected him to be somewhere in Mongolia right about now. But standing just a few feet across from her, looking worse for the wear, was Bruce, wearing the purple sweater Tony had given him, the brown jacket he received from Clint, the mittens Pepper knitted for him, the striped scarf Thor had picked out with assistance from his lady Jane, the pants Steve purchased with his S.H.I.E.L.D. pay, and finally the boots Natasha had sneaked him under the mistletoe.

After the Battle of New York, Bruce realized that these people were the closest he had to a family. And having to leave them, he realized, was a little selfish on his part.

He made the first move. "I know this was a bad time, but uh…I was brought here…kinda against my own will."

The scientist didn't look or sound like he'd just gone through a kidnapping. Then again, Ziggura didn't look like she'd gone missing for about nearly a month…wait a minute!

Everyone turned to said dog now turned giant alien dinosaur, who reacted to the attention by shaking the snow off her body. The group then realized she had actually plowed a perimeter in the shape of a star while they were busy gaping at Bruce.

"I adore you." Natasha said finally as she kissed him, and this time, there was no catch to that gesture. It was pure bliss for the both of them.

Tony didn't want to be left out. He affectionately patted his best friend's shoulder while telling him about other ways they could improve the world. It was the first time since Ultron that Bruce has ever genuinely laughed, and only Tony has the sole privilege of getting him to do that in the entirety of his life.

Clint and Thor suddenly broke out into song, and soon, their voices blended perfectly for a very Avengers Christmas carol montage. Steve was just content with expressing his joy at the good doctor's return.

And who's to say the new team didn't' get in on all the Christmas love.

They went home that night drenched in wet snow, but their spirits never burned brighter as they took in the fact that no matter where they were, or what they did, they would never be truly alone.


	3. Chameleos

**Hide and Seek (Chameleos)**

Once he'd noticed the disturbingly prolonged absence of emergency, Steve had been somewhat skittish. Soon, everyone was keen to note it, and were themselves anticipating an unforeseen assault. Nick Fury himself also knew that the Avengers could not exist without crime, and yet there was a significant lack of it.

It was Vision who-albeit unknowingly-provided the team with the reason for their lengthened sabbatical.

* * *

Ziggura was not a leash and collar kind of dog. Unfortunately, that raises certain problems, especially with city laws concerning pets.

Thankfully, Ziggura did not have to be a canine, but if you think people would bump what appeared to be nothing and not give a care, then you are not from this planet.

It wasn't anything important. Just a menacing looking vehicle pull up toward the bank, yet years of breeding soon kicked in, and all of a sudden, a masked man was suddenly grabbed by his ankles and thrown around a few times before his accomplices were soon met with the same fate. When they tried to aim at their attacker, they might have as well been shooting a ghost.

A civilian had the decency to call the authorities, and when they got to the sight of a couple of otherwise harmless would-be bank robbers, one of them began ranting about how they were attacked out of thin air.

A newbie officer couldn't help but notice the slight shimmer in the air after they had brought in all the men.

* * *

A day later, and the docks was the next stage for this most rousing game of hide and seek.

A shipment of a very alien nature arrived at exactly 11:06 in the morning. The agents who were to investigate had to report incapacitated men and the package on acid. Literal acid. Some unidentified form of biological toxin smeared a good portion of the object, and when interrogated, some of the goons spoke of a slight rush of purple just before they were attacked.

Once Fury got the details, he ordered a search of New York, but finding this mystery person was about as close as finding out if Bigfoot was real or not.

* * *

Sightings of what people know as the Jersey Devil warranted that the Avengers go out and take a look.

They had been trekking through the mire for a while now, but there was still no sign of the cryptid.

Ziggura's nose of course, found something, and all of a sudden, she was bounding towards the brush, snarling and most likely turning into something that could rip a Jersey Devil in half.

It turns out she was just hungry.

"Who was supposed to feed her?" Steve asked. Rhodey slowly raised a hand.

The next morning, the Avengers were surprised to find that their Devil had been nothing more than a man in a suit, trying to get people as far from his property. When that didn't work, he took out his shotgun, and the Avengers were left submitting a less-than-exciting rendition of a possible monster roaming around swamplands as nothing more than an old coot looking for some privacy.

What they didn't know however, was that the Devil had nearly had their hides the night they were sleeping. Unfortunately, it didn't make more than one step when it suddenly found itself pinned to the ground by some unseen force that severed its head from its shoulders.

No one saw it again. The reason? It had been buried well deep into the Earth.

* * *

The next attack struck home.

Or at least it should have.

The least intelligent of the bunch took his time to investigate a series of light rappings against the wall, and suddenly, like a mantis on a tree branch, he was gone.

Another, by a seemingly fortunate twist of fate, managed to sneak up on a sleeping Pietro. Unfortunately, the next thing he knew was his head thumped heavily across the flight of stairs that he had descended to access Quicksilver's headquarters.

The rest were scared out of their wits, or knocked senseless.

A few minutes later, and a breathless Wanda slammed the door open to her and her brother's shared quarters, only to relax as he groggily asked her about the rude wake-up call and noted that the last time he saw her, she was on a date with Vision.

Agents in the vicinity rounded up a total of ten men. For normal people, they certainly had ways of getting around unnoticed.

"How did this happen?" Natasha asked an agent, trying not to look as intimidating as possibly, and failing.

"I-I don't know. The only people present were Mr. Maximoff and the dog."

At the last word, the Avengers raised an eyebrow, and the object of their interest materialized herself in the shape of a very large, purple chameleon with wings, the suction tipped tongue hanging loosely like a pink jump rope.

That night, Ziggura received her pay in the form of a wonderful meal of steak and vegetable buffet.

Then promptly proceeded to try and eat a fly that wandered into the common room.

"I wasn't hungry anyways." Rhodey said as he pushed his plate towards a very peckish Pietro and raced Sam to the bathroom.


	4. Duramboros

**They Told Me I Could Become Anything** ( **Duramboros** )

More often than not, the team found that even with Jake on Minegarde, they could always rely on the next best thing-his dog.

And Ziggura was more than happy to please and associate with the very humans her master had the honor of befriending.

But because she was smarter than most dogs, that also calls for a loss of sense in some aspects of life.

It all started one day in the much larger room adjacent to the normal training room the Avengers use. Its purpose was to test Wyvern Huntress' strength. Being an animal herself, she responds more easily to the feral nature of the monsters.

Diablos proved capable even if it could not tunnel underground. Those horns and that axe-shaped tail would have been sufficient to intimidate anybody six feet or shorter. It was monsters like her and Plum Daimyo Hermitaur that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s maintenance owe their large pay as they are called in almost every day to fix the room up just so that it can get brutalized again.

As the dog lay down to one side of the room to let the people do their job, one worker patted the Doberman's head.

"You know girl, I bet you could be anything you ever wanted."

In the other room, the Black Widow remembered the times when she was forced to dance to the brink of death. The movements were still very clear, and as she pranced and twirled around the room, Wanda couldn't help but look in admiration. To be honest, the witch thinks her thinking skills may have cost her some limb coordination, as when Natasha offers to teach her the ways of ballet.

"Like this" She says to the Sokovian girl, and then twirls like a top.

Unknown to the two females, there was another who watches. And she could not have picked a worse move to attempt to emulate.

* * *

The Avengers were called to deal with a threat from HYDRA. Apparently, some of their robots have gone on a rampage down the city.

All was going well and serious. Until Ziggura-as a Rust Duramboros-decides to put her recently acquired knowledge to the test.

As one last HYDRA sleeper bot remains, the Avengers were about to go all out on it when they noticed a large, horned, bipedal monster suddenly spin in circles…

And with its wide tail as a counterbalance, launches itself into the air, both ends of its body still spinning like chopper blades until their mechanical adversary was lost under hundreds of pounds of tough, folded skin.

Pietro, Rhodey, and Sam were in stitches after what happened; Steve was trying to give a few words over the TV, but could not stop the occasional spouts of laughter; and Natasha was initially in shock as she saw a monster do what she suspected was a ballet twirl, only for her to put her head down with Wanda as they both hid their smiles-Wanda a lot more easily thanks to the length of her auburn locks.

Duramboros simply huffed in the face of the media. A perfect ending to the video posted a few hours later on Youtube.

Nick Fury soon demanded to know what the hell just happened. As he did, he obliviously shooed the man responsible to the bathroom to fix the mother of all leaks.


	5. Espinas

**A Boy and His Dragon (Espinas)**

The day was rather hot. All in all, not the best time to ask a girl out.

But what's done is done, and now, Vision was standing in the blistering heat of the Barton farmhouse porch. From inside, he could hear two voices complaining about the heat.

When Wanda emerged, Pietro was ready to inquire of her about why she had chosen today of all days to go on an outing.

"Number one," she cited, "I know a place. Number two,"

Soon, a symphony of groans-one very accented-rang across the house.

"That." She said simply as she guided the android as far away from the very vocal dwelling.

* * *

It was a river. Clear as crystal and clean as Vision's soul. And Wanda insisted they swim in it.

The feeling was very foreign to the android; he had never swum until this moment, and he certainly never skinny dipped before either, given his flustered reaction at Wanda's self-relief of her undergarments.

But she did not force her decisions onto Vision, trusting him not to hurt her.

They immersed themselves in the tranquility of nature for a good hour before Wanda got out and hurriedly dressed. When he noticed her pace quickening, she simply broke into a sprint, and Vision had to settle for flying as he saw a silver blur rush into the house.

He had barely alighted one foot when the sight before him caused him to fly back up again as a reflex.

A white, purple spiked dragon was asleep in front of the farmhouse, and there was absolutely no way around it.

Not a problem for Vision. Wanda on the other hand…

"Let _me_ in!" She said for the next five minutes to a practically deaf Espinas as it dozed through her curses in Sokovian.

Then suddenly, it woke up to Lila's voice. As Wanda hurried inside the dark living room, she felt a gentle arm sling itself over her shoulders. _Pietro_.

The succeeding cry of "SURPRISE!" made her jump.

"Happy birthday Wanda and Pietro!" Lily said enthusiastically as she gave the girl she considered the best big sister a hug. Cooper joined a second later.

Clint and Laura gave her and her brother beaming smiles. When she turned to look at her brother, he had a dopey smile on his face and looked like he'd been on alcohol.

"It had to be done." Clint's smile darkened a little.

"But did it have to involve a stealthy taser Sir Barton?" Vision asked, having winced at seeing the body upon entering.

"Only until we were done with the preparations." The archer reasoned despite the glare his wife was giving him.

"You didn't see that coming?" He addressed both twins as they still tried to digest the fact that there, right in front of them, was the mother of all chocolate cakes.

"You did not know how hard is was to order that cake. We would have settled for the nearest bakery, but Tony had caught wind of your records, and insisted that we get from the best of the best."

"They are Avengers after all." The billionaire spoke as he emerged with Thor, Rhodey, Nat, Sam, Steve, and Bruce. Each gave words of greeting to the twins, with Tony first and his science bro at the very rear.

"WOOF! WOOF!"

The dog bounded past the hungry guests, revealing a blip to the bacchanalian flow of the occasion.

The Bartons and the Avengers all came out of the house when they heard the voice.

"I missed you so much girl." Jacob Lioleus Hunter croaked as he hugged the dog so tight, the canine mirroring his own emotions with a few blissful whines of her own.

But his attention did not rest on Ziggura for long. Monster Hunter was soon surrounded by the happy faces of his friends and people who held his actions in high regard.

The team was shaken by the supposed death of their dear ally, but after he had sent them a carving of the Elder Dragon Dalamadur, the Avengers waited for the day he would return.

And return he did.

It was Wanda and Pietro's birthday that day, but the happiest faces around the party table were that of the boy and his dragon as they flew to the heavens.

To date, the Bartons, their homestays, and their friends have never seen a sunnier sky.


End file.
